second chances
by seajay26
Summary: if given a second chance to live and love, would you take it? please be gentle its my first fanfiction. jazz and jess
1. Chapter 1

he slipped in and out of consciousness, eyelids flickering as he fought to wake up. it hurt, but anything was better than the darkness inside his own head. finally he opened his eyes fully and stared up at the white ceiling. as his eyes adjusted to the light he realised where he was, the smell of antiseptic and the pure white walls with the hunter symbol embossed into them were unmistakable, he was in the hospital ward at headquarters.

as he shifted to get out of the bed a sharp pain caused him to hiss in pain and finally look to check his injuries, as he was only wearing pyjama bottoms they were easy to spot. his ribs were bandaged and his stomach and upper chest were covered in golden brown bruises, scratch marks and scars covered his arms. from the looks of him, he'd been in here a week or two. as he examined himself he remembered...

he'd been on a recon mission, to hunt down the lair of a pack of incubii who had been terrorising several small towns west of malice. his orders were to locate the enemy, report their position and wait for the exterminators to join him. he'd found them easily enough, they'd hid their tracks well but he was better. as he'd approached the den to check on numbers he'd stumbled upon their 'discards' a pile of barely recognisable body parts, shredded flesh and limbs. he'd seen worse so he hadnt been been too phased and started past it when he'd seen them, just behind the flesh pile, a pile of heads. just slung in a heap, he didnt recognise any of them but the colours of their hair... the memorys had hit him hard, sending him to his knees. red and green tangled together, and flowing blonde covered in blood, that one hit the hardest, made him gasp for breath, made the old impotent rage rise. he'd surged to his feet pulling his guns as he rose and with a roar of sheer fury he'd run into the incubii's lair guns blazing. he remembered that he'd startled them in the middle of feeding, 6 had gone down before even 1 managed to get to its feet. it'd been a slaughter, as he'd dodged their claws and fangs ignoring the gauges when they hit, desperate to take them down, to kill them all, for her, for the one who'd been taken from him so long ago. and he'd been winning, only a couple were left when he realised he was out of ammo, when his trigger clicked on an empty hadnt had much of a chance after that. he'd had his knife but no-one could take on an incubii at close range, they were too damn fast for that. as they'd dragged him down, ripping at his skin, his last thought before he'd lost consciousness had been surprising even to him, ''i'm so sorry jared''.


	2. Chapter 2

ben was snapped from his thoughts by a doctor bustling into his room. humming absentmindedly as he approached the bed, head down over a clipboard, the physician seemed startled when he finally noticed the young man was awake. with a friendly smile he approached the bed. '' well good morning mr harris, glad to see you're finally awake'' his friendliness wasn't diminished when his only reply was a grunt. ''since you're up then lets just give you a quick physical then you should be ok to head up and see the boss. he's been quite concerned you know.''

the bluenet kept quiet as he was quicky examined, offering only one word answers to the doctors more direct questions. ''well you're healing very nicely and since i'm sure you're quite eager to leave i'll get your papers signed while you get cleaned up, ok?'' he gave another smile at bens muttered ''thanks''. ''just pick up your pain pills and discharge papers at the desk when you're ready'' with that and a quick handshake the older man was gone.

ben breathed a sigh of relief as he was left alone, glad that for once he had a doctor who seemed to understand that he wanted out the wards asap. trying not to jar his wounds too badly he made his way over to the bathroom, the sooner he got clean the sooner he'd be outta here. ''_and the sooner you can see him!''_. he nearly tripped as the strange thought whispered through his mind. ''_what the hell!''_ with a quick shake of his head he pushed the strange voice to the back of his mind and resolved to ignore it.

after picking up his things at the reception desk and doing his best to ignoring the flirting of the nurses, ben made his way over to the lifts. ''_time to go see the old man i guess.'' _he was glad to find an empty car and quickly got in and hit the express button to the top floor, ignoring the call of ''hold the doors'' from an pimply boy in a lab coat. he wasnt in the mood to put up with people right now. ''_when are you ever? you're so antisocial you cant even remember the last time you had a conversation that wasnt to do with work.''_ the bleunet had to resist the urge to bang his head against the wall in frustration as the smarmy little voice started up again. it always seemed to start up when he was tired, talking nonsense directly into his brain. ''_its not nonsense! its honesty and you know it!''_

he was never so grateful for the speed of the elevators in hunters hq as the musical *ping* that signaled his arrival on the top floor shut that stupid little voice up instantly. the head hunters pa was waiting for him. ''ah, mr harris, right on time. please step onto the red square for your security check.'' ben did as instructed, answering his security questions calmly and ignoring the ache in the back of his teeth as the scanners ran up and down his body. '' well done mr harris, you are cleared for entry. please go straight through, mr hunter is expecting you.'' he walked towards the big double doors without another word to the pa, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders he gave a quick knock then entered.


End file.
